The key to forgiveness
by Omydeadvoldemort
Summary: It takes Hermione Granger incredibly long to notice her feelings for Draco. In the same place, Draco also didn't see anything until he admits. There is one problem; time. Hermione has to leave to hunt horcruxes while Draco has to fill his duties as Death Eater. What will they do if no one gives them time?
1. Chapter 1

**Chapter one - Hate**

Disclaimer: I do not own anything from the Harry Potter world and I don't want to either. J.K. Rowling is the fantastic person who did, and I can't, and I never will, be able to make up these things. This story is just one of the many things I make up while sleeping, reading or writing.

* * *

Hermione Granger was so sick of him. So sick of Malfoy, sick of his tricks, sick of his words and sick of living with him. It had been such a delighted feeling that she had felt when she heard she was chosen as Head Girl. The whole day she had been smiling, laughing and sharing the joy until McGonagall told her who would be the Head Boy. And of course that was no one less than the arrogant prat of a Draco Malfoy. It was safe to say that her day suddenly wasn't that great anymore, it was just absolutely ruined. As the first days passed, she had figured she wouldn't communicate with him to prevent any trouble or arguments, but that wasn't that easy. He kept on arguing, even when she said she was done, he never admitted that he had been wrong and he was a huge heckler. Draco felt the same hate for her as she felt for him. That's why they had decided to prevent speaking to each other after a few weeks of arguments.

_"Granger." Draco nodded at Hermione who walked into the common room. Himself sat in the couch, close to the fire. _

_"Malfoy." Hermione responded after climbing through the portrait hole. She had been at the library to seek information for her potions essay. She got this assignment this morning, and although the deadline was not even close yet, she already started off and would probably be finished the next day._

_A smirk played on Draco's lips as he noticed the stack of paper Hermione was holding. She had been written 'the useful' things down, and the useful things in her eyes are practically all the things she can find about it. _

_"What?" Hermione saw his gaze and sounded annoyed already. _

_"Nothing, you're just rewriting every book like usual, aren't you?" Draco shrugged once, not paying attention to her anymore._

_"I am not! I am working on an essay, an important one actually." Hermione lay her papers down on the table besides her and crossed her arms in front of her chest as soon as they were free again._

_"How much time did you get to make it?" Draco asked, already knowing she would probably have weeks, or maybe months._

_"Five weeks." Hermione bit her lip lightly and prepared herself for his respond. It would be either an insult, or something very close to an insult._

_"Merlin, so you really don't have anything better to do?" Draco's mouth corners went a bit up to form a small smirk._

_"What is that supposed to mean?" Hermione frowned at him._

_"That you're boring."_

_"I'm not boring!"_

_"Prove it then."_

_"I will not lower myself to your level to prove something I do not have to prove. I'm not boring!"_

_"I still don't believe you, miss know-it-all."_

_"Leave me, Malfoy! I'm not boring and I do not have to prove you anything at all. I know myself, I know my life, and neither my life nor me as a person is boring." Hermione picked up her notes again and clutched them against her chest._

_"I will leave you if you will leave me." Draco fumbled with his fingers._

_"Sounds perfect. I will not speak to you as long as you will keep quiet too." _

_"Deal." _

It had sounded like the perfect solution. No more fights over nothing, no more insults or yells. But, of course, it didn't work completely. The first days they kept their agreement, but after that they simply forgot about it again.

* * *

It was now three months since they heard they had to share a common room. After Hermione was sent away by Draco, she had spent four hours in the library. There were nights that she slept there and got woken up by amused first years. This night, thank Merlin, Draco picked her up in time. "You can come back, mudblood." He smirked when he stood close enough for her to hear it. She lost her patience and her calmness when she stood up and slapped him on the cheek with a flat hand. The smack sounded loud when her hand touched his sensitive skin. Immediately Draco reached to his cheek and rubbed the place where she had hit him.

"What the hell was that good for, Granger?" He looked angry, upset but also confused.

"You called me by the wrong thing again, and I'm sick of It, Malfoy. Why can't you just watch your words for once?" Hermione crossed her arms in front of her chest and sighed terribly annoyed. "I can't believe that you still think you're better than anyone else with your pureblood family and all of your girlfriends running behind you in the hope to get a smile. It's pathetic, you're pathetic. " She was nearly yelling at him now, ready to slap him again if he would say anything wrong. But he didn't, not exactly.

"I'm sorry? Maybe it's because it's the truth. Any person with a common sense knows that purebloods are better than other wizards. If I didn't know better, then I would say that you were jealous, Granger." Draco smirked at her while he frowned, showing that he was surprised of what she had said. Eventually he looked away from her, wanting to avoid her glare.

Hermione rushed herself to the exit of the library. "I hate you, Malfoy. I truly feel the hate run through my veins, beating against my chest." She said and it felt relieving. It felt relieving to finally tell him what she thought of him. She never hat enough courage to say all of this, scared that he would curse or hex her. But she had figured earlier that she was save at Hogwarts, at least for now.

"And I hate you, Granger. I hate you so badly that I can feel my blood boil every time you speak to me." Draco spoke with the same annoyed tone as Hermione.

With hearing that, she left, giving him the last words and leaving him behind. "A few more weeks, Hermione." She told herself. "A few more weeks and it's vacation, already."

* * *

It was quiet in their common room, but of course. By the time that Hermione got there, it was freezing. Two of the windows were open while there was a cold wind blowing into the room. "Great." Hermione mumbled and quickly closed the windows before it would become even colder. She stoked the fire until it gave a pleasant, warm feeling and sat down in the couch with a sigh.

Why did he always had to act like that? It was almost like he enjoyed insulting her, using that word over and over again. Oh, and he enjoyed that. He enjoyed calling her mudblood so much, and that made it even worse. Of course, she wasn't completely innocent too. Not at all. But the difference between the two was that she didn't like to yell at him or to insult him no matter what situation. He, at the other hand, did. The fights would only get more and worse if they wouldn't stop acting this immature all the time. They had to cooperate as head boy and girl, show others what was the right thing to do. Show others that they stood strong, and that it was an honor to be a prefect. Maybe if she would apologize, then maybe he would do the same and they could work on the issues. She didn't want to, but she felt like she had to do that. It was her duty and she had to show McGonagall that she hadn't made a mistake by picking her.

At the other hand, making her notice that Malfoy wasn't suitable for this job, would mean the end for him as head boy. And that was exactly what she wanted. Since every teacher, except for Snape, practically loved her, she wouldn't get send away that quickly. The only thing she had to do, was get the two of them into trouble. That wasn't too difficult, right?

A/N: Sorry, this chapter is not long at all.. Please comment what you thought about this. No worries, it will end in a Dramione fanfiction, the first chapters are just slightly different than others with the same ship. I wanted to keep their dislike for each other before adding the drama and all that. Anyways, I'll try to update soon!


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter two – Starting the Plan**

Waking up had never been hard to Hermione, but this morning she had woken up with a huge headache and just really wanted to sleep for a few more hours. Unfortunately, she didn't have that chance since she had potions right after breakfast. Even though she had never really enjoyed potions, which was mainly because of their teacher Snape in the previous years, she was looking forward to the class this morning. She had scored an O in potions on her O.W.L.'s, what meant she had class from Slughorn who only allowed students with an E or an O. Since Draco had also class of him, this would be Hermione's first shot of getting him into trouble. If Slughorn would let them brew a new potion, then she might be able to distract Draco and mess with his potion. Hopefully it would cause a small explosion or something that might get Slughorn's attention.

"Good morning." Lavender Brown nearly sang when she saw Hermione sitting in the armchair in the common room. Her hair was a bit messed up and the black rings under her eyes betrayed that she hadn't slept much or well.

"Morning." Hermione responded quietly, not wanting to continue the conversation wherever it might end. They were far away from being friends. That was partly her own fault by not talking to her or trying to interact, but it was also Lavender's fault. She was annoying and obviously jealous at Hermione for being smarter than her and being close with Ron. She didn't get that, though. Lavender was dating Ron, so why worry?

Hermione looked back up when she heard several footsteps. Harry and Ron walked down the stairs. Unlike Lavender or herself, they didn't look tired or messy. They actually looked just like always, fit and well, normal. She was glad that her best friends had showed up so they could go to the Great Hall and leave Lavender behind them. That joy didn't last for long, because she wasn't the only one who had noticed the two.

"Won-Won!" Lavender called out and ran to Ron who she hugged tightly.

"Harry, let's go. I can't stay here for five more seconds." Hermione whispered annoyed. Harry nodded his slightly and together they climbed through the portrait hole, heading to the Great Hall.

"And? Did you got send away by Malfoy again last night?" Harry asked her and made Hermione remember their conversation. It hadn't been long, but they had both admitted that they hated each other. Of course she already knew that, but actually hearing a person telling he hates you was more uncomfortable than she expected.

"Yes and the ferret couldn't use proper language again. I slapped him and we had an argument, like we usually have. I'm getting real tired of this and I've promised myself not to leave when he 'asks' me next time." Hermione responded and looked at Harry who was chuckling. "It's not funny, Harry!" She crossed her arms in front of her chest.

"Sorry, 'Mione." Harry said but still had a smirk on his face.

* * *

Breakfast had been the worst of this year so far. Lavender kept on talking with her terribly boring and annoying voice. She didn't even tell interesting things, not at all. At least if you're not into details of Ron's smile, hair or actually his whole face, then it's not interesting at all. Hermione was glad that she could escape to her first class where she could concentrate on potions and fooling Malfoy.

Their class started with an usual introduction of what they were going to do. This class they would repeat the Strengthening Solution that they had been taught in their fifth year. Hermione waited patiently until Malfoy would get to the point where he was supposed to add salamander blood. Luckily for her, she was rewarded with only eight minutes of waiting. She grabbed a vial pomegranate juice and walked over to the desk where he was working with another Slytherin.

Hermione cleared her throat when she stood in front of him. "Malfoy, I would like to disguss what happened last night." She lied and hid the bottle behind her back.

"I don't. Now leave again." Draco said without even looking up and continued with weighing the powdered Griffin claw. She had to come up with a new idea and now, before the class would be over and she couldn't continue her plan anymore.

''You listen to me right now, or I'll get you in trouble. But it seems like you already are. Look behind you, Malfoy." Hermione said a bit nervously while there was actually nothing happening behind him. Surprisingly Draco looked around and in that few seconds, she opened the vial and poured some of the pomegranate juice in his cauldron before he looked back at her.

"What do you mean?" He frowned at her what made him look a bit innocent but also frustrated. Before she could even think of an answer, he looked down at his cauldron. His potion was making a bubbling sound and instead of turning turquoise, what the actual potion must look like, it turned into a reddish color. "What the.." Draco started but Hermione couldn't hear the rest since she had already walked back to her own spot.

She started off with measuring the amount of the salamander blood and checked the temperature of the potion every now and then. Nearly at the end of the lesson, when her potion was finally done, she heard a bang and looked up. The potion that Draco was brewing, and that was messed up by Hermione, had exploded. And not just a little. She didn't get the seriousness of the explosion until she saw that Draco wasn't standing anymore, but lay on the ground.

"Everyone, give him some space." Slughorn commended and kneeled next to Draco where he checked his pulse. "Out of conscious." The teacher concluded and stood back up. "Does anyone know what went wrong?"

Hermione turned a bit red, but Slughorn didn't seem to notice her. Maybe because he didn't expect her to know what went wrong. Everyone was silent and stared at each other until Hermione spoke. "Telling from the color potion that lies all around the classroom now, he probably used pomegranate juice that turnes red when it's mixed up with the right amound of powdered Gryffin claw and, obviously, causes an explosion."

All eyes turned to her. Some looked surprised that she knew this, some looked annoyed because she always answered. "Very good, miss Granger." Slughorn nodded once at her to emphasize his compliment. "Well, we'll let him lying her until he wakes up. Class is dismissed."

Instead of leaving, like she should do, she walked over to Draco. She was surprised that their teacher just wanted to leave him here on the ground. That wasn't exactly something teachers were supposed to do, but she didn't mind. It was Malfoy, he sort of deserved it. She kneeled beside him to see or he was going to be fine. For a moment he looked peaceful like he usually didn't, but then his eyes flickered open. Her breath was pressed out of her lungs when he wrapped his fingers tightly around her wrist. "I know it was you, Granger. And you're going to pay for it."


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3 – Fear**

The hours after potions had just been a hell to Hermione. The words of Malfoy were still repeating themselves in her thoughts. "I know it was you, Granger. And you're going to pay for it." His voice sounded the same with the small cracks mixed with a tone of anger. His grey eyes had turned darker while he spoke and his arm, with what he had grabbed her wrist, was tensed, showing his muscles. All of that made her a bit panicked and frightened. She tried to stop thinking about it, but it was impossible. It was like his eyes had looked into her soul and made the image of him stay with her, whether she wanted that or not.

"It was hilarious, seeing him lying there. Don't you agree, Hermione?" Ron asked during dinner. With his 'E' for his potion O.W.L. he was able to join their class, which was a surprise for not only many students, but also for himself. He sat across Hermione at the Gryffindor table and was telling the story about Malfoy passing out over and over again.

"I'm sorry, what?" Hermione hadn't really been following the conversation. All she thought about was how she could be safe the whole time. At day she was surrounded by teachers, students and her friends. But as soon as they had to go to bed, she would be alone with Malfoy in their common room. She could lock the door to her bedroom, but he could easily unlock it with the most simplest spell. She could perhaps put an alarm on her door, that would go off whenever someone opened it, but if it would actually go off, what would she do then? Grab her wand? It would be too late by then, already. Malfoy would hold his wand already before she could even think about pulling out her own.

"Are you ok, 'Mione?" Ginny sat next to Hermione and looked a bit worried. Of course she had noticed that her friend hadn't said one word yet during dinner and that definitely something was going on.

Hermione sighed and buried her head in her hands. "No." She mumbled and rubbed her head in the hope that the upcoming headache would stop before it was too late. "During potions Malfoy's potion exploded, as you all know. And I might have caused it.." She stopped talking to take a deep breath and looked up at Harry and Ron. "On purpose."

Suddenly all eyes turned to her. Fred and George, Ginny, Harry, Ron and even Lavender and Seamus were watching her close with widened eyes. "You did what?" Ginny spoke quiet so others wouldn't be able to overhear their conversation.

"I blew up Malfoy's potion. It's just, the night before he was bothering me and I thought that maybe if I would get him into trouble, then maybe he would get fired as head boy. And then, of course, I wouldn't have to live with him anymore." Hermione had lifted her head up and ran her fingers through her hair. "He knows, Malfoy I mean. He knows it was me who messed with his potion. And because we all know him, he will take revenge."

"You're not going to sleep there on your own, 'Mione. Or you can sleep with Ginny in her dorm or Ginny can sleep with you in yours. Think of the things he could do while you're asleep." Harry had been listening the whole time, but now gave her advice. It had been a complete mystery to him why McGonagall had placed the two together in a shared common room. Was she out of her mind? Everyone knew how much the two hated and disgusted each other.

"I figured that." Hermione sighed. "Ginny, can I please sleep in your dorm tonight? Merlin, I've been having weird ideas about what he could do the whole day already."

"Sure thing. I will not let you sleep there on your own." Ginny said before taking a sip from her pumpkin juice.

"Great, thank you. You're the best. I'm going to grab some of my stuff. Meet you up in ten minutes outside of the Gryffindor common room?" Hermione stood up from her spot and grabbed her bag. After seeing Ginny nodding, she left the Great Hall with quick passes.

* * *

Hermione entered her common room without worries, relieved that she would make it through the day without any injuries or revenge actions by Malfoy. Once in her own room she started to grab her stuff. Simple things as her pajamas, her books for the next day, parchment, writing quill, but also a towel so she could take a shower in the morning. When she got her things together, which was about five minutes later, she walked out of her room and locked the door.

Draco was in his room, he had skipped the rest of the hours after potions and also dinner. He was feeling ok after 'the incident', but he didn't mind staying in his bed and pretending that he didn't feel well. At least, Madame Pomfrey had recommended lying in bed and rest so the headache would stop. Luckily for him, his headache stopped pretty soon. At first he thought he imagined hearing the sound of footsteps and doors opening and closing, but when he heard it again, he sat up in bed. Did she really return here? People said she was a bright witch, well not in his eyes. Who in the world would return to a room where someone is waiting for you to take revenge? Apparently Granger. And she made it damn easy for him to frighten her a bit.

"Granger, help!" Draco yelled and made his voice sound a bit panicked, even though he wasn't.

He didn't even think about what he would do if she wouldn't walk into his room, falling for his trick. But he didn't have to either, because a few seconds later the room to his bedroom swung open and a concerned Granger walked in with quick passes.

"What's wrong?" Hermione's expression changed from worried to confused when she noticed he was doing fine.

Draco smirked a bit and acted faster than she could by grabbing her wrist and pulling out his wand with his other hand. He stepped off of his bed so it was good to see who was, physically, stronger. "Oh, sweet revenge. This will learn you not to mess with a Malfoy ever again."

"I don't know what you're talking about. Revenge for what?" Hermione tried to sound honest so it would be more believable. But she got nervous from looking at him and at his wand what made her voice shake a bit.

"You know damn well where I'm talking about, Granger. You've messed with my potion and now I'm going to mess with you." Draco wasn't talking loud like he usually did when he was angry. He nearly whispered and made Hermione shiver by doing that.

* * *

"She's not there." Ginny rushed over to the Gryffindor table after being at the common room. "Harry and Ron, Hermione is not in front of the common room. I've waited for another five minutes. She is always in time and now she's not here." She sounded panicked and worried and her expression showed the same.

"I'm afraid we have a problem then. Ron and I noticed that Draco isn't here, not in the Great Hall." Harry stood up and Ron followed. "We have to go find her."

The three rushed themselves to the exit of the Great Hall. They ignored the other students staring at them as they did. They split up after leaving. Ron went to the Gryffindor common room to see or she was there and Harry and Ginny went to the prefect's common room.

"Sweet Merlin, let her be ok." Ginny had lost control over her thoughts. What if Malfoy had cursed her? What if she lay dead on the ground? What if she was dying right at the moment?" She had to stop thinking about it, but she couldn't.

"She is ok, she must be." Harry said as they ran towards the common room. The hands of Ginny and Harry slightly touched while hurrying what made Ginny blush. Without hesitation, Harry grabbed her hand and squeezed softly in it, in the hope he would not only make her, but also himself, feel more sure about what he said. The two slowed down and looked at each other for a minute. They forgot what they were doing until an icy scream woke them up again.

* * *

"Help!" Hermione screamed as loud as she could. "Anyone! Help me! -" Draco's hand covered up her mouth before she could call for more help. His nails were a bit buried in her skin, what made it bleed at some spots.

"Shhh, we don't want any accompany, do we?" Draco whispered as he pushed her hardly against a wall, making her back ache.

Hermione breathed heavily through her nose, feeling frightened and panicked of what he could do or was doing to her. She didn't know or anyone had heard her, but the only thing she could hope was that help was on the way. What if there wasn't? She had to do something, but what? Without thinking what the consequences could be, she pulled out her wand with her free hand and pushed the tip slightly against the stomach of Draco, making him notice she had her wand pointed at him.

Draco's eyes wandered down after feeling something prickling against his belly. He knew that if he would make one wrong movement that she would use her wand.

Both of them stood still for a while, just looking or the other would do something so they could defense themselves. When Hermione felt his grip got looser, she casted the stinging jinx at him. Her wand produced a white flash. Draco walked quickly and backwards away from her. He fell on his bed while screaming of pain. His flesh was stinging and was already showing scorch marks.

Without regretting or feeling sorry for him, Hermione made her way out of his room again, grabbed her stuffs and left the common room. On her way she bumped into Ginny and Harry. "I.. I.. We need to get help for Malfoy."

"What? What happened?" Harry's eyes widened.

"I used the stinging jinx, but it was self defense." Hermione brought her hand to her cheek and rubbed the place where his nails were a few moments ago. The blood was a bit sticky but wasn't dried up yet.

"You found her, thank Merlin." They heard a relieved voice behind her. The voice of Ron to be precisely.

"I'll go get Pomfrey. You two, bring her to the common room and let her rest. We'll explain McGonagall and Dumbledore what happened tomorrow." Harry said and already walked off before any of the three could say something. Ron wondered what happened, but he remained silent, expecting her to tell him tomorrow.

Hermione was glad to have her friends at her side, but wasn't completely relaxed again. If the teachers didn't believe her, then she had to continue living with Malfoy. And if she had to do that, then she could say goodbye to her 'normal' life. Whether he would live with her or not, she would have to accept the fact that being alone wasn't save anymore while he was around.


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter 4 – Apologies**

**A/N:** **Natasja helped me out with thinking of more action for the next chapters. I realy hoped I would reach 2000 words, but at the end of the chapter I realized I couldn't really add more to it. Next chapter will be much longer, I promise!**

* * *

"Tell me again, what happened?" Dumbledore had not only called Hermione but also Draco to his office to listen to both of their stories again. In the morning they had separately told him what happened but now he wanted them to tell him together.

"He was planning on torturing me, so I jinxed him. But not even that bad, he was barely hurt." Hermione obviously didn't see the point of telling the story again and was slightly annoyed.

"Excuse me? Barely hurt? My whole skin was completely scorched! I wasn't even planning on hurting you." Draco defended himself and was frowning at Hermione.

"What? That is nonsense! You obviously wanted to curse me or something! I stood pushed against a wall, your hand over my mouth and your nails were deep in my skin." Hermione glared angry at Draco and had raised her voice. She turned to Dumbledore and crossed her arms. "Professor, I haven't done anything wrong. He, on the other hand, has."

"Oh so now we're going to pretend to be the clever student? The teacher's favorite? Shut it, Granger. If you want to tell the story then we'll tell the whole one, not just parts." Draco sighed frustrated by the way Hermione acted.

"What whole story? This is the whole story, Malfoy. What action of me could possibly be worse than what you did?" Hermione sounded confused and shrugged.

"We shouldn't forget that you made my potion explode and caused that I got out of conscious. And you casting that jinx at me is worse than just threatening in my eyes. Professor, I just scared her, made her cheek bleed a bit, that's all." Draco tried to see what Dumbledore thought of this situation.

"Well you called me mudblood again. I have the rights to do that then, don't I?" Hermione looked down and scratched her arm, knowing that he had made a point.

"It's not illegal to call you that. Besides I call you whatever I want to."

"Quiet! For the both of you. So if I'm right this started with you calling her something she does not please." Dumbledore spoke powerful but quiet and looked at Draco. "And then you made his potion explode, I've heard of the incident." He turned to Hermione.

"Professor, that was no incident. She probably wanted to get me hurt or worse!" Draco said.

"No! I didn't want you to get hurt! I wanted you to learn your lesson and obviously you didn't." Hermione turned completely to him so she could face him.

"You seriously need to shut up! Why do you still try to defend yourself? You're already into trouble."

"I? No, you need to shut it, Malfoy! I'm so sick of your behave-" Hermione got interrupted by Dumbledore.  
"Silence! Both of you." Dumbledore spoke loud this time, bringing over the message. "And if I'm not wrong, you threatened her and frightened her." He looked at Draco, who nodded to confirm what he said. "And you casted a jinx at him because you were afraid that he would do something to you?" He waited for Hermione to respond and she finally nodded.  
"Well, I understand the situation. I'll only take ten point from each house Gryffindor and Slytherin. Both of you will get three hours of detention. This is a light punishment, I do not want to see this happen again. Understood?"  
Both Draco and Hermione shook their heads quickly and were relieved that they got away with this so easily.

"Good. Now apologize." Dumbledore lifted his head and looked down at the students.  
Draco and Hermione looked at each other. Draco showed his disgust for her by his expression while Hermione showed her annoyance and anger for him.

"I'm terribly sorry, Malfoy." Hermione said a bit sarcastically and held out her hand. She was a bit disappointed that she was the one who had to apologize as first and take the first step again.

"I'm so sorry too, Granger." Draco sounded a bit more sarcastically but also meant the apologies. Not completely, but partly. He grabbed her hand and shook it once before letting to again .

"Off you go, now."

* * *

The two kept quiet as they walked back to the common room. Hermione had moved her stuff back to he own room after Dumbledore and McGonagall assured her she would be safe. Still she felt a bit of doubt, but she believed the headmaster and her teacher, so she would stay.

"As long as you know that I didn't mean the apologies." Hermione said when she sat down on the couch and crossed her arms.

"I know and I really don't care." Draco went straight to his room, not wanting to talk to her or to anyone for that matter. He was completely annoyed but was also a bit tired. The places where she had hit him with the jinx were covered up with clothes so they weren't visible. He could tell that it would leave some small scars, but he didn't mind. He already had scars so they wouldn't stand out. Scars caused by his father for not listening, for being kind to the people to who he shouldn't be kind to. He was watched by a several Slytherin students most of the time and they reported it when he did something that his father didn't please. It took away his last bit of privacy and freedom, but he was used to it after three years of it.

Hermione stayed in the common room and read a book. She read the words, the sentences, the chapters but she didn't really follow the story. Most of the time she had to reread the chapters since she forgot what exactly she had read. Her mind was completely somewhere else, not at the book at all. For Merlin's sake, she was actually thinking about Malfoy and about what happened. Maybe she had overreacted, maybe she shouldn't have hurt him that much and maybe she shouldn't be that angry at him. What was she actually thinking? Of course she could be mad at him, she had lots of reasons to.

The worst part of this situation was that she had to go to detention with him. First detention hour would be even before breakfast. Not the most perfect situation, she would be tired and cantankerous before even talking to him already. She didn't know why she let him influence her emotions and thoughts that much. He couldn't just ruin her moment whenever she saw him, and she shouldn't let him do that either. She would have to be stronger, she would have to ignore him and be more harsh. The question was or she could do that, or she wasn't soft enough.

In the hope to stop thinking, she went to her room about an half hour later. Quickly she changed into her pajamas and crawled under the sheets. Her bed felt cold but it became warmer the longer she lay in it. Even though she should try to sleep and forget about Malfoy, she kept her eyes open and listened concentrated so she might hear some movement at the other side of the wall where he slept.

It was like someone listened to her thoughts, because not much later she heard a stumbling noise. Immediately she stood up from her bed and rushed herself out of her room. She wasn't really worried about him, but she needed an excuse to talk to him, to point out she was right.

Draco had lost his balance after he had put off his shirt and saw the skin at his shoulder was more red than ever before. He wasn't shocked, but a bit surprised to see his skin was showing more damage than a few hours ago.

"Malfoy, are you ok?" Hermione leaned against his door so she could hear what was going on. Before she could ask once again or knock, the door swung open en she stumbled inside.

"What are you doing here?" Draco raised an eyebrow at her.

"Well, I live here. Not in this room, but I wasn't here before you opened the door." Hermione shrugged and looked around in his room. She had been there the night before when she jinxed him, but she didn't have the chance back then to see what his room looked like. The beds were the same, apart from the fact that his was messy and that it was decorated with his house colors green and silver. A tie lay on the ground and a scarf hung over the chair behind his desk. Some flags with the Slytherin crest hung on the wall and some of his clothes lay in his trunk while others were spread on the floor. One thing that she noticed was that there weren't any personal things except from his clothes of course. But there were no pictures, not even letters on his desk. Maybe he had hidden them, though.

"Malfoy, where are your.." Hermione started, wanted to ask him about his books, but stopped when she saw him completely. She brought her hand to her mouth after seeing his scars and concluding she had caused one of them, at least.

"Oh my.. You.. I'm sorry." She didn't have an idea how he got the other scars. It was impossible that she had caused them all since there were old ones, very huge ones and she could've only caused small, fresh ones.

"You're not sorry of your action, Granger. You're sorry to see what happened to me." Draco quickly put his shirt back on, not wanting her to stare more. "Do you want a picture perhaps? Then you can watch it whenever you want." His voice sounded cold and he eyed frustrated

"No, I don't want a.. No." Hermione had turned a bit red and felt uncomfortable since he caught her staring. "But I am sorry, I didn't know that.. I didn't know that I had injured you that bad." She shrugged.

"Don't worry, you've only hit my shoulder and a part of my chest." Draco pretended like it was nothing. Honesty, it wasn't that bad, but it burned like hell, making him feel like particular parts of his body were on fire. "Why were you here again? And don't say because you were worried after hearing noises, because that's not your reason."

Hermione needed time to think but she didn't get it. "I.. I uh.. No idea. Well, I had a reason but it doesn't make sense so, just forget about it." She swallowed a bit nervously and walked back to the exit.

Before she could leave, Draco grabbed her arm. "Thank you for the apologies." His expression had softened a bit. As soon as he saw that Hermione looked tensed at her arm where he had wrapped his fingers loosely around, he quickly let go again. "Good night."

"Good night." Hermione mumbled and went back to her own room. His hand had felt extraordinary warm and her skin still tingled a bit from his touch. For one second she actually thought he would smile at her while he thanked her, but of course he didn't. He would never smile at her, only smirk or give a sarcastic one.


	5. Chapter 5

**Chapter five – Admitting**

**A/N: I really coulnd't wait any longer, so I decided to post this chapter already. See, I can keep promises. I wrote for a few hours today since I really had the urge to continue. Natasja helped me out with a several things whenever I got stuck. Let me know or you like it so far because I'm thrilled to continue this story. Is it perhaps going too fast or too slow? Anyways, enjoy reading!**

* * *

Hermione's alarm went off at six in the morning. At half past six she had detention and at half past seven she could leave again and have breakfast. She tried to ignore the alarm and buried her face in her pillow. Of course it was useless, the annoyed sound only became louder and louder by the second. "Silencio." Her voice sounded sleepy and cracked as she spoke. While her wand was pointed at the alarm, the silence returned in her room and she sighed. Normal people woke up an hour before breakfast or any other occasion, but since she wasn't interested in the way she looked and didn't use any make-up, she was usually done within an half hour.

"You should wake up, Granger." She was able to hear the words of Malfoy through the wall. He was right, she should get up and change into her uniform before she would be too late.

Her bed squeaked when she got out of it and she dizzily walked to her trunk where she changed into her uniform. One look in the mirror that hung on the wall and she felt even more worse. She hadn't looked this terrible in years. Her eyes showed signs of tiredness, black rings were under her eyes and her eyelids fell nearly close every five seconds. Her hair was a bit fluffed up and she made it to a ponytail so it wouldn't be completely visible anymore. Slowly she walked out of her room, into the bathroom where she brushed her teeth and looked into the, even bigger, mirror. For a few seconds she doubted or she should use make-up, but she shook away the thought. It was only used to make others believe you were pretty, and most of all to lie to yourself, to make yourself believe you are more beautiful than others.

With reluctance she walked out of the bathroom after cleaning her teeth and face. She had ten minutes left before she should leave to the detention chamber. It was near the History of Magic classroom where she would have class in the morning. She plumped down on the couch and instead of reading or taking another look at her homework like every morning, she just lay down and stared up at the ceiling. Couldn't she just stay in her room and pretend to be sick? It was possible, but she wouldn't be able to forgive herself afterwards. She always followed her classes and enjoyed it. The only reason why she wanted to stay here was because she wasn't looking forward to the detention she had in a few minutes. Her brown hair started to tickle in her neck so she sat back up with a sigh.

"We need to go, Granger." Every bit of Draco betrayed he wasn't in a good mood. He moved impatiently, he sounded jaded and even the way he had dressed up showed it. His tie was skewed, there were lots of creases in his shirt and his shoe laces were loose.

"I know." Hermione mumbled and stood up. Detention was going to be a living hell, which was the same as he made her feel usually, but this was worse. Now she got detention and Draco Malfoy combined early in the morning. People were planning on making her feel exhausted by the end of the morning already.

* * *

Hermione walked in front of Draco to the detention chamber. They never walked close to each other, only during the rounds. Draco hadn't explained why when she asked about it, but she knew the answer herself already. He just didn't want to be seen with her. She didn't mind, she didn't want to be seen with him either.

Draco decided to cheer himself up in the early hours. He knew that he shouldn't get himself into more problem, but he couldn't resist it. He pulled out his wand and pointed it at Granger. It was good that she walked in front of him so she wouldn't immediately defend herself or panic. It was just an innocent thing, it wouldn't harm her. Not physically. "Colovaria." He whispered and a bit of red light shone out of the tip of his wand to Hermione's hair. In less than three seconds her hair changed into a bright green color, but she didn't notice it. Thank Merlin she didn't or he would get attacked another time. He simply took advantage from the fact that she had her hair up in a ponytail so it would be impossible to see her own hair color unless she would try to look at it in purpose. He hadn't used the color change charm very much, but it was enough to be sure it would work on hair.

Hermione hadn't felt anything of the charm and she hadn't noticed anything either. But she did know something was wrong at the moment she walked into the detention chamber. Filch stared at her like she wasn't wearing any clothes or like she was doing something extremely weird. She concluded he had gone mad and that he was just surprised to see her here. Without thinking about it any longer she sat down behind a table and leaned back in her chair.

Draco watched her carefully and crossed his fingers in the hope her hair wouldn't swung over her shoulder so she could see it. His thoughts were heard because the ponytails stayed perfectly in his position while she walked and sat down. Draco sat down himself and waited for Filch to start.

"Completely silence for the rest of the hour. You're allowed to make homework, but not to communicate with the other in any way possible." Filch sat down behind the desk in front of the room.

It wasn't a hard challenge for Hermione. She simply grabbed one of her books and started reading while making some notes. Whenever she saw something she was interested in, she wrote it down and she would look it up later in the library.

It was hard for Draco, though. He hadn't brought his books with him, not even parchment or his writing quill. The hour went slow but he was still looking forward for them walking into the Great Hall. People would laugh at her without she would know why. It was brilliant and very amusing to him. Of course she was able to change it back at the point where she noticed it, but that would be too late already. All of the students would've seen her.

* * *

The hour was finally over and the two of them left quickly. Draco walked ahead of Hermione this time and entered the Great Hall a few minutes earlier than her. He took place next to Blaise Zabini and smirked. "You should watch the entrance from now on."

Not only he heard it, but practically the whole table did because they listened carefully when he spoke. Some students looked at the door while others went to the other tables to tell them. The news was spread across the Hall and it didn't take long before Harry and Ron knew it too.

''What in the world could probably be so important that I should watch and stop eating." Ron was confused but still looked at the door.

"Shut up, Ron. Seriously, is food all you can think about?" Ginny rolled with her eyes and sighed annoyed.

Hermione walked into the Great Hall like it was the most normal thing to do. She didn't notice others were looking at her until she heard lots of students were laughing. All of the students at the Slytherin table were smirking and some laughed terribly hard. Quickly she looked down to see or something was wrong with her clothes, bur of course nothing was. She looked at her hands but they were perfectly ordinary. For as far as she could see, nothing was different than normal. Nothing was, until she checked or her hair was fluffed up again. She immediately glared at Draco after seeing the bright green color. He laughed while shaking his head and getting compliments by others for doing 'such a great' job. She felt the urge to just turn around and run away, but she knew people would talk about her even more, so she quickly walked over the Gryffindor table and sat down.

"Change it back, now." Hermione sat demanding while looking at Harry and Ron. Harry looked serious while Ron obviously had to hold back his laugh.

"This is not funny, Ronald." She hissed as he chuckled and some grinding bread sneezed out of his mouth.

Harry was the first one to take action and turned her hair back into her normal color. Soon after that people stopped looking and continued doing what the were doing before she walked in.

"I assume this was Malfoy's work." Ginny ran her fingers through her hair while shaking her head. "He's such a ferret. How is it possible that you haven't lost your patience yet?"

"Oh believe me, Gin. I've lost that ages ago but I should stay at the background. I can't possi-" Hermione got interrupted by Ron who thought this was funny and was laughing.

"You should stay at the background? How are you planning to do that after walking in here with green hair?" He chuckled.

"I meant that I can't afford it to get into more trouble so I can't take revenge or something." Hermione leaned her head against her hand. "Merlin, I hate him so much. Why, of all the people, why was he chosen as head boy? Even Ron would be more suitable than him. Anyone would be more suitable than him, even Filch' cat."

Ginny and Harry laughed at the same time. "I'm sure she would be a better company while doing the rounds." Ginny shrugged.

"I would rather do the rounds with Snape for a hundred times than with Malfoy once." Hermione spitted out his name and took a bit from her bread. During the rest of the breakfast she only gave short comments on what the rest said and made them know she didn't want to talk about it again. She would only get more frustrated if she would hear his name again.

* * *

Hermione's classes went well if she didn't think of the fact that everyone looked at her. She tried to see it as a joke, but she couldn't. This was obviously another ridiculous action by Malfoy to make her feel worse. Well, he accomplished that goal. She definitely didn't feel secure about herself anymore that day. When she had only one hour left, potions, she thought she would make it through the day and was relieved. That moment didn't last long because at the moment she walked into the classroom she saw she had class with the Slytherins.

"There is our green headed know-it-all already." Draco smirked when he saw Hermione entering the classroom.

Hermione ignored him and sat down behind a desk next to Parvati Patil.

"You should ignore them. It's completely nonsense. I can assure you that no one thought it was funny at the Gryffindor table and I've heard from my sister that the Ravenclaws didn't appreciate it that much either." Parvati smiled slightly at Hermione.

"Thank you, I'm glad to hear that." Hermione sighed and faked a smile.

"Still feel bad about this morning? Have you got a lot of glares? I don't understand why, though. Usually people stare at other people because they're special or pretty, but you're none of that." Draco, Crabbe and Goyle had walked over to Hermione's desk.

"Maybe it's because she's so annoying and ugly." Crabbe squeezed his eyes together and pretended that he was thinking about it.

"Yes, because people also stare at persons who are extremely ugly." Goyle smirked at the two girls in front of him.

"Could the three of you leave to your own desk? Unlike you I'm here to learn something. But I understand why you try your hardest to make me feel bad. Since you don't have to brain capacity to learn new things all day long, you'll try your hardest to delay class so you won't look dumb. I'm sorry, but you failed miserably doing that. If you will excuse me, I've got a class to follow." Hermione said calmly even though she felt her blood boil.

The three boys didn't know what else to say and went back to their own desks. It made Hermione feel better and she was actually glad that she had potions with them for once.

"Today we're going to brew the calming draught. It's a potion that calms down the person who takes it. It's often used by people who have been traumatized. Instructions are in your book at page 143. If you have any questions, I'll be here to answer them." Slughorn spoke loudly while he stood in front of the students.

Everyone started off by taking a cauldron and searching the ingredients together. It was not too hard to brew this potion, it was actually quite easy for both Hermione and Parvati. The lesson went quick and ten minutes before time Slughorn said something else about the potions.

"If you're absolutely sure that you've brewed the potion correctly, than you can put it in a vial and show me. After I've given my permission you can take it with you or drink it yourself to test it." He said.

Hermione and Parvati looked at each other and nodded. They were positive that they did a great job and both poured a bit of the potion into a vial.

"Granger, Patil, show me." Slughorn said after he saw the two had filled their bottles. He watched carefully and even smelled the potion. "Wonderful, for the both of you. It has the perfectly yellow color and it smells like it should. You can take it with you."

Hermione and Parvati were happy to hear that and smiled. Of course they hadn't doubted but it was always nice to hear that they did a good job.

"Hey! Look, what is Crabbe doing there?" Goyle pointed at Crabbe who stood at the back of the classroom and was dancing a bit odd.

Draco had planned this of course and while the two girls had turned around from their desk to watch at Crabbe, he switched his own vial quickly with Hermione's. He walked back to his desk like nothing happened, but his smirk could betray him.

After a minute of watching she didn't think it was interesting anymore and turned back around. Since Draco made sure the bottle stood at the exact same place, she didn't notice that anything had changed. The color of the potion was the same, he had made sure that it stayed the same, so everything looked perfectly fine to Hermione.

"Good, good. Some of you have brewed brilliant potions. Any who wants to volunteer to show the effects of his or hers potion?'' Slughorn looked at Parvati and Hermione.

"Of course, I'd like to, professor." Hermione grabbed the bottle and took a few sips from the potion without worries. It was a few seconds later that she started to wonder or everything was ok. "Uhm professor, is it possible that.. Is it just me or is it extremely hot in here?" She waved her book to herself so she could feel the cold wind against her skin.

"This is not good. Everyone leave now except for you miss. Granger." The students did what he told them to do.

"Professor, is it possible that one of the side effects is mugginess?" Hermione was all sweaty from the warmth she felt from the inside. While she waited for her teacher to do something, she felt how her breathing got heavier and how the heat spread itself through her whole body. It was exhaustive.

Quickly Slughorn walked over to her while holding a purple bottle. "This is an antidote against many potions. Drink it and you'll feel better in a few seconds."

Hermione didn't take the time to thank him and immediately took the bottle out of his hand and drunk it all at once. He was right about how she would feel because not much later she cooled down and her throat got clear again. It wasn't hard to guess who was behind this all and she wouldn't ignore that fact.

* * *

"You arrogant, disgusting, self centered prat!" Hermione yelled out when she walked into the common room and saw Draco sitting in an armchair. "You could've get me killed with that potion! And where was the green hair good for?" She crossed her arms in front of her chest. If glares could kill a person, than Draco would've died five times already by now.

"I don't think the potion worked, it usually calms people down, but you're not really relaxed." Draco smirked.

"_Your_ potion didn't work, no! Obviously it could've made me very ill and you're just enjoying that? You actually want me to get very sick?" Hermione shook her head quickly. "You are so going to regret this. I'll tell McGonagall and you can say goodbye to your task as head boy. Behavior like this is not accepted when you have so much responsibility." She hissed and sat down in the couch.

"I'm peeing my pants out of fear, Granger." Draco rolled with his eyes. "I don't care about this whole responsibility thing I probably have, I don't care at all. So tell the professor, prove once again that you're every teacher's favorite except for Snape. And I know you can't stand that fact. I know you try your hardest during defense against the dark arts so you can show Snape that you're not just a filthy mudblood."

"What?" Hermione stood up again and walked over to him. "What did you just call me? Are you out of your mind? You are pathetic and I hate you! Why can't you respect me? Is it that hard?" Tears escaped her eyes and streamed down her cheeks. She couldn't stop herself from crying or screaming at him. "You are unbelievable, you're terribly disgusting."

"Shut it, Granger!" Draco yelled and ran his fingers through his hair.

"Why should I need to shut up? You're obviously the one who-." She couldn't finish her sentence because once again she got interrupted by Draco.

"Shut up! Shut up, right now!" Draco raised his voice again and sighed relieved when he saw she would keep her mouth shut.

"Sit down and listen to me, ok?" His voice was calm again and his expression had softened.

"Who are you to demand me?" Hermione glared angry at him but sat down in the chair next to him.

"Just listen, that's the only thing you have to do. I know I've made this day like hell to you and I understand you hate me even more for doing that, but it was or doing this or getting tortured and killed." Draco looked down before he could see the expression of Hermione.

"I don't get you here, it doesn't really make sense to me." Hermione looked confused at him.

"I don't always do things on purpose, I don't always enjoy hurting or humiliating you. As soon as I'll be nice to you for only one time, my father will get contacted by other students and when I'll be home during a vacation, he will sum up all those things and punish me for it. So it was or this, and I'm sorry I had to pick this, or new scars would been added to my collection. And you've seen them, so you know the punishments aren't exactly soft." Draco took a deep breathe and carefully looked back up at her.

"But why would he punish you and for what?" Draco has gotten Hermione's attention completely. She had no idea what was going on or why he told her this.

"You can see my father as a teacher. They'll punish you with if you do something they do not like to see, or if you do something that is against the rules. My father's main rule is that I can't be kind to people like you, to any other Gryffindor or actually most of the people in that matter. Then I also have the commands to do particular things that will make some people feel worse, you're obviously included to that group. My father has a lot of power over me, he forces me into things I do not like or want to do. But I remember a saying what said; kill or get killed. That's sort of my situation. I know this does not make everything alright and that it's not exactly a good excuse, but I'm sorry. I'm terribly sorry that I do all of these things to you." Draco's expression changed to relieve when he told this. It felt good to finally tell someone what was going on.

"Oh my goodness, I didn't know. Oh.. I'm sorry to hear this, Malfoy. This is.. Merlin, you're not in a situation where I would like to be in." Hermione swallowed nervously and scratched her arm lightly. "And you haven't thought of a solution that might stop that, yet?"

"There is no solution, Granger. There's no way I can stop this. Thank you for your worries if you have them, but I'll be fine eventually. I guess you should be the one who I should be worried about. I need to continue doing things like I did today, and I'm sorry, I really am." Draco buried his head in his hands. "I wish there was a solution."

"It's good to hear that you're sorry and telling from the way you do, you mean it. Therefore you've been forgiven, Malfoy." Hermione smiled sadly at him. "But I don't like the fact that you'll have to continue doing this."

Draco nodded and understood what she meant. "Promise you won't tell anyone what I just said and what I'm about to say." He said and waited for her respond.

"I promise that I will not tell anyone." Hermione frowned at him, a bit confused. So there was more? Merlin, there was more to tell her. But what could it possibly be?

Draco actually didn't need words to explain what he wanted to say. He simply moved up the sleeve of his shirt and revealed the Dark Mark. He was too afraid of her reaction so he avoided her look.

Hermione stood up out of shock. "You're a Death Eater? Seriously? What are you trying to do? You've kept me here, isn't it? And now you're going to call them here? Am I first on your killing list?" She took a few steps away from him and the fear she felt was shown all over her face.

"No, no! You don't understand, please don't leave. It's my father, he forced me into this. Please, Granger, I have no intentions of killing you. You're not even on the list, I don't even have a list like that." Draco also stood up and looked sadly at her, disappointed that she didn't react the way he wanted. But what did he expect? Did he think she would hug him and say that everything would be alright? Of course not, that was a mad idea.

"I don't know what to think, Malfoy! I'm confused, this is a lot to take in. Give me time to think off this, to decide whether you're telling the truth or that you're lying." Hermione shook a bit and took a few deep breaths to calm herself down.

"I understand, I'll give you all the time you need." Draco nodded his head once and walked to her until he stood close. With only the moon as light source, he could see how the rays enlightened her face. She looked so elegant and exquisite. Her hair falling over her shoulders on her back was the most wonderful color he had ever seen. He couldn't even bring himself to think about her eyes, the perfect mixture of chocolate and coffee. He could look at her forever. "Good night, Granger." He said quietly and pressed a quick kiss on her forehead. It was something that he hadn't planned to do, he hadn't expect him to do that ever in his life, but he did and he was glad about it. Without looking back at her again or waiting for a response, he walked away from her into his own room leaving her behind completely astonished.


End file.
